1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to wood cutting machines and is directed more particularly to a machine having circular saw blades for cutting grooves in wood members.
2. Description of the Prior Art
New methods of joining wood have been of interest to man for thousands of years. With the advent of hard steel tools, there were developed dove tail joints, finger joints, and dowelling, all of which have been time consuming and have required great skill to effect precisely and accurately.
In the 1950's, there was developed a wood joining system in which substantially matching grooves were cut in wood pieces to be joined. Splines, comprising thin, generally elliptically-shaped, wood wafers were slipped into the grooves of one of the wood pieces, and the grooves of the second of the wood pieces were then fitted upon the exposed portions of the splines to join the two pieces of wood which were held together by the splines. A cement was commonly introduced into the grooves during assembly to further strengthen the bond. The splines preferably were made of wood, such as kiln-dried, biased-cut, compressed Beechwood, that expanded as it absorbed the cement and solidly bonded together the two pieces of wood.
To cut the required grooves in the wood pieces to be joined together, there have been developed hand-held cutting tools which are capable of cutting a groove in the edge portion of a wood board, or in the major surfaces of the board. Typically, particularly in cabinet making, it is desired to join the edge of one board, such as a shelf, to a major surface of another board, such as a side of a cabinet. Such cabinet making techniques have become known as "frameless cabinetry", that is, the production of a cabinet having only the major components, such as sides, shelves, front, back, and top, joined together directly rather than attached to a supporting frame.
The required grooves are cut with a circular saw blade and, as noted above, the splines are generally elliptical in configuration, providing some flexibility in aligning the joined parts after they have been joined. Of course, such final positioning must be accomplished shortly after joining, before the cement has set and/or before the splines have expanded. The final positioning feature helps eliminate the need for sanding and planing, and therefore decreases time required for assembly.
The above-described system facilitates the quick and easy assembly of components by way of face joints, butt joints, edge joints, mitre joints and compound joints, each joint perfect and strong.
In an alternative embodiment, the above system may be practiced using metal fittings in place of the wood splines. The fittings may be configured such that the fittings disposed in the grooves of a first wood member interlock with the fittings disposed in the grooves of a second wood member. The fittings may be secured in the grooves by an epoxy cement, or the like.
Whether using wood splines or metal fittings, the required grooves are identical and are cut by circular saw blades which, in practice, usually are mounted in hand-held tools.
In a production environment in which large numbers of a wood product are to be made, it would be beneficial to have an inexpensive bench-type work station in which horizontal and vertical cuts could be made in wood members to be joined at a subsequent work station.